The SeaMan
by Midoriri
Summary: Little Aolani wants a story, and Kai tells her one...Takes place after La Belle et La Bete, JillxKai


Aolani sat on the floor, legs crossed, staring directly at her father. Her father was staring back at her.

Aolani moved a little. Her father watched her.

Aolani grew bored with the game. "Daddy," she said, standing up and tugging his shirt sleeve. "Will you tell me a story?"

Her father, a tanned-skinned man with a purple bandana, smiled at her. "You want a story? What kind?" he asked as he moved her to sit on the bed. (It was nearly her bedtime anyway, and he had to watch her while Jill finished up her work.)

Aolani thought for a moment, her little forehead scrunching up in thought. "A true one. But a happy one, too." She smiled and grabbed her little teddy bear, hugging it to her chest.

Her father, Kai, laughed. "True stories aren't happy, huh?"

"That's what Rick says. He says real life isn't always happy, but people try to make it so," she recited, like a Sunday School Teacher. Kai sighed. _That Rick…_

"Okay then," he said, kneeling down and reaching for something under the bed. "Just hang on a moment, okay?" He removed some things from the box he pulled out and began to do something his daughter couldn't see.

"Daddy, what'cha doin'?"

"This'll help with the story, okay?" Kai finally sat back up, holding something behind his back. "Okay," he said, smiling.

"Once upon a time, there was a man who came from the sea." He held up a puppet of a tan boy in purple. Aolani didn't spot the similarity, probably due to the "chibi-ness" of the puppet. "And he liked the sea. He was away from the rules of the land-world. And the mean people who wanted him to follow all sorts of bad rules couldn't hurt him."

"What kind of bad rules?" asked Aolani. "Rules are good, aren't they?"

"Well, yes, some of them," said Kai, lowering the puppet. "But the rules the mean people tried to make the boy from the sea follow were kind of stupid…They wanted him to do _exactly_ what they did, think exactly like they thought, and all sorts of things like that."

Aolani's eyes widened. "What happened to him?"

"The man from the sea was very happy in the sea like I said. He was free, and-"

"He's from the sea. Is he a boy mermaid?"

"He sure was," said Kai.

"Are mermaids real?"

"Of course they are. Now this one loved his sea home, but once a year, he liked to go on land. He liked it there, but only once a year, because any more and he would disappear." At this he removed the boy puppet and dropped it on the floor.

"Nooo…" whimpered Aolani.

"Don't worry," Kai said, replacing the puppet. "Now, he was fine with leaving the land town, because most of the other people were mean to him. They knew he was from the sea, and they didn't understand him. So he was always very grateful to return to the sea…"

Kai found another puppet, this one of a girl with golden hair. "But one year, a pretty young maiden came to the town to live, wanting to start a new life for herself. When the young man from the sea met her in the road one day, he was strangely drawn to her. He sensed that this girl was different from the other people. If he played his cards right-"

"Go Fish?"

"No, it's an expression," laughed Kai, lowering the puppets. "If he did things right," he continued, fixing his words. "If he did this right, he could be friends with the wonderful new girl. And one day, he talked to her on the beach. He said, 'This is where I live when I'm on land.'

'What do you mean on land?' asked the pretty girl. 'You don't live in the sky, do you?'

'No,' he said. 'But I do live underwater from time to time.' The girl didn't quite believe him, but she became his closest friend above water.

"Now one day when she went to see him, another villager decided to be mean." Kai pulled out a puppet with brown hair and large spectacles. "And he came to the young man from the sea. He told him 'Stay away from the girls in the village. I know what boys from the sea do to innocent girls! They make them fall in love with them, and they drag them down into the sea to drown.' But the young man from the sea knew it was not true, and he tried to say this. But the mean villager wouldn't hear this. While they were arguing, the sea-boy's friend came to see him. When she tried to stop them from fighting, the mean villager said 'He has already seduced you! Run, or he will drown you in his watery lair!' But the girl wouldn't listen to this. 'He is my friend,' she told him. And the boy from the sea was glad.

"The mean villager gave up and stormed away. The young man from the sea asked the girl, 'Do you really think of me as your friend?'

"'Yes I do,' said the girl. 'And I don't believe you'll drag me to watery grave. Even if sea-men did those things, you're too nice to do such a thing.' And the sea-man was happy.

"Sadly, this was his last day on land for awhile, so he had to tell his friend good-bye. He asked her to wait for him to return. She promised she would, and he disappeared into the water."

Aolani, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. "Did he ever come back? What about the girl? Did they fall in love?"

Kai laughed and held up his puppet-covered hands. "Calm down, Aolani, sweetie. It's not over yet." He smiled as he continued the story. "He returned one year later, and he was happy to see the girl waiting for him, smiling, her arms full of pineapples, the sea-man's favorite food above water. He walked up to her, his tail becoming pants-clad legs again and he smiled. 'You waited for me!' he said, happily.

"The girl smiled. 'Of course I did. I'm happy to see you again,' she said.

"They continued to see each other, every day for the rest of the summer. And when his friend got sick and fell down, he was right there to take care of her. And one day, he realized…" Kai leaned close to his daughter, eyes shining. "He had fallen in love with the girl…"

Aolani squealed. "I knew it!" she laughed, holding her bear closer and kicking her feet. "Did she love him back?"

Kai smiled. "Apparently, she did, because one day, when no one was watching, she leaned right down and kissed him, right on the lips. And she always wore a pretty necklace that he had found and given to her as a present. He was sure she loved him like he loved her. But what he didn't count on the mean villager from earlier.

"The villager kept coming to the beach to yell at him. 'You're going to drag her away!' he accused. 'Don't deny it! I know what you're up to!'

"The man from the sea refused all of this. 'None of that is true,' he declared. 'And I am not trying to seduce the girl. I love her.'

"The villager kept coming back to pester him, and finally the man from the sea could no longer take it. He wrote his beloved a letter, saying good-bye, and returned to the sea. 'I will never see her again,' he decided sadly.

"On land, the girl was very sad. The villagers tried to cheer her up, but she would not have anything of it. Event he mean villager felt sorry for her. 'Maybe it was _not_ the right thing to do,' he thought to himself.

"Under the water, the young man from the sea was wishing he could see his beloved land-walker again. And one day, he got an idea. He had a library full of books written by all the great mer-minds under the sea. He pulled out a book, one by one, hoping to find what he was looking for. And one day he found it. A way to walk on land forever and ever, and not disappear when he stayed out too long. In other words, he could be like a human."

Aolani smiled. "It sounds like another story, kind of…"

"Yeah, kind of…" Kai said, slightly embarrassed. "But let's go on.

"The young man from the sea read all sorts of these ideas, and experimented all night. He finally figured it out. And it was so simple! All he needed to do was place his right hand on the book of the mer-people, a sacred book to them, like our Harvest Goddess Bible, and renounce his sea-hood forever. He would live and die as a human.

"Up on land, his beloved was still waiting on the beach, hoping that one day he would return. But sadly, the moon shone brightly, and her little watch said it was midnight. Summer had ended. Fall had begun. And the man from the sea would not return to her. She hung her head sadly, and went to go home.

"Then she heard someone call out her name. She turned around and saw her beloved walking out of the sea, dripping wet from the ocean water, and waving at her. She ran to him, and begged him to return to the water, because she thought he would disappear now. But he took her hand in his and told her the whole story. He was a human like she was now, and he could be with her, forever."

Aolani's smile widened. "And what happened to them? Did the mean villager show up?"

"The mean villager _did_ show up once, but he was powerless to do anything. And besides, even if the sea-man _could _drag the girl under the water, which he couldn't, he couldn't now anyway because he was human. The two ended up married, and eventually they had a baby. A little girl, who was the best swimmer the village had ever seen."

Aolani smiled at her father. "Is it really a true story?" she asked.

Kai scratched the back of his head. "Well, maybe I exaggerated a few parts, but yeah, the basic story really happened."

"Where do they live? Are they still alive?' asked Aolani.

"They're still alive," reassured Kai, removing the puppets from his hands. "And maybe someday I can take you to see them. But right now, you have to go to bed."

Jill chose that moment to come in. "I'm back," she called, collapsing onto the bed. "And really tired. Kai, next time I want to plant the whole field with crops and stuff, tie me to the bed so I can't get up and do it, okay?"

Kai laughed. "I tried to warn you," he laughed, placing an hand on her slightly swollen stomach. "And be careful, okay? Too much work can't be good for Baby…"

"Yeah, I know…" Jill smiled wearily before noticing the puppets on the floor. "What're these?"

"Nothing!" said Kai hastily, scooping them up and putting them in the box.

"Daddy told me a story!" chirped little Aolani, wriggling under the covers.

"He did?' asked Jill, smiling and tousling her daughter's hair. "Was it a good one?"

"Yeah, a true one! About a man from the sea, and girl from eh land, and they fell in love!"

Jill smiled even more, eyes shining. "Really?" she asked.

"Yup!" Aolani looked to her mother's opinion now. "Is it true, Mommy? Daddy said it was, but sometimes I'm not sure if I should believe him."

"I did _so _sing at the inn once!" protested Kai. "Just because Doug won't answer you, and Rick says I can lie sometimes, and Duke was too drunk to remember anything-"

"It's true," said Jill, quickly cutting off her husband.

"'Kay," said a satisfied Aolani, drifting off to sleep.

**PBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPBPB**

Aolani walked down toward the Poultry Farm to see her "Aunt Popuri." Rick was out front, feeding chickens. Aolani stopped and cocked her head, studying his hair and glasses. Rick stopped. He turned his head and smiled at the little girl.

"Hey, Aolani. Popo's inside," he said, referring to what Aolani had called Popuri when she was smaller.

"Thank you," said Aolani, still studying him.

Rick looked nervous. "What?"

"You look like the meanie villager," Aolani said simply as she walked inside. "Popo!"

Rick sat there, confused. "Huh?"

**Okay, that was another MFoMT story with JillxKai…And now I'm tempted to write a mer-Kai story… --' (Oooh…I'm gonna draw that!) Tell me, should I or should I not? In your review, let me know, okay?**

**(P.S. There's really not enough Kai pics on DA…)**


End file.
